training

I went to the Dallas Tech Fest last Saturday. They offered several dozen 1-hour sessions throught the day. I attended many of the Java sessions and one of the Microsoft Robotics sessions.

“Strange Pervisions in Java Bytecode” – Ben Rady

I’ve never messed with the java bytecode. Ben demonstrated the javap command that shows the byte codes in the .class files. I can see how this can lead to better code, but the complexity it adds will probably keep me from using it.

Paul and Derek introduced groovy – a scripting language that compiles into java byte code. I’m taking a closer look at Grooy, as it seems to reduct the amount of coding needed to get work done.

“Spring In Action” – Craig Walls

Craig, the author of “Spring in Action” introduced Spring 2.5. I’ve messed with spring in the past, but never enough to use it in one of my projects. I an going to use it in a future project (or a older one that needs to be updated). I am curious how the MVC function in Spring compares with Servlets and JSP.

“Microsoft Robotics” – Phil Wheat

Ater several hours of serious sessions, I decided to relax in the robotics session. Of course, it had some of the most complex material in the sessions. Try controlling a robot , and having it react to its sensors in real time, and supporting concurreny and multiple processors.

Now, being a Software Engineer and Electronic Technician, I think I will get back into robotics.